Hard Times on 31st Street

The recent warm spring we've been having has been a blessing to us all, but for two business owners on 31st Street in La Grange Park, it's been a saving grace.

Both Ace Hardware and Angel's Spirits, located on the corner of 31st Street and Beach Avenue in La Grange Park, have said that their businesses suffered significantly when Beach Avenue was closed down for repairs late last year.

"People are creatures of habit," Angel's Spirits owner Tom Zukauskas said. "If they can't park where they normally do, they'll find somewhere else."

The loss of the regular customer parking spots in front of their businesses and the reducation of street parking during the repairs was what both owners pointed to when asked what put them in deep water.

"By the second week," Ace Hardware owner Scott Grandchamp said, "[customers] were deciding to go somewhere where they could get in and out. I don't blame them."

While both owners agreed the street was in disrepair and needed to be repaved, they agreed it didn't help make the significant financial sting hurt any less. Both owners said the weather made if even more difficult, explaining that when it's cold out, people are even less likely to park farther away and hike to the store on foot.

According to Grandchamp, Ace Hardware suffered a 40 percent decline in business on weekdays and a 60 percent decline on weekends while Beach Avenue was under repair. Zukauskas agreed, and said he lost nearly 70 percent of his business.

"Ussually Thanksgiving is a big weekend for me, but it was increadibly slow [this year]," Zukauskas said. "It takes a long time to recover from something like this."

Luckly, an early and warm spring has been helping to bring the customers back in and things are getting back to normal. At Ace, the garden center has been drawing customers back, as people begin to think about their lawns and flowers. Zukauskas said he's hoping to see more traffic with the warm weather as well, with customers shopping for beer to go with their outdoor cooking.

Neither owner blames the Village of La Grange Park for the financial hit, but both said they wish more had been done to open up temporary parking in the area. According to Zukauskas, the village was reluctant to open up the lot at 1029 Beach Ave. (designated to provide more parking for 31st Street businesses), until the parking lot project was completed.

Rather than blame anyone, or the Village, both men said they just missed their customers and wanted to get the word out that they were still there, open and awaiting their return.

"Yeah, we miss them," Grandchamp said.